2023 NCAA III Women's Cross Country Great Lakes Regional Results

NORTON, Oh. – The Calvin women's cross country team punched its ticket to next week's NCAA III Championships by winning the Great Lakes Regional Championship meet Saturday afternoon.

The Knights matched DePauw at the top with 90 points but Calvin won a tiebreaker for the win and the automatic qualifying spot based on the finish of its top five runners in a head-to-head points formula against DePauw's top five. Calvin's top three runners all won head-to-head matchups against DePauw's top three finishers. DePauw went 12-17-18-19-24 in its top five while Calvin went 8-9-16-23-34 in its top five with the Knights holding the 3-2 tiebreaker edge for the win.

Calvin placed five runners in the top 34 led by the up-front push of junior Natalie Tebben and freshman Hailey Erickson. Tebben (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Christian HS) ran the finest race of her collegiate career, placing eighth on the hilly 6K course in a time of 21:04 while Erickson was right behind in ninth (21:08).

Junior Sophie Bull (Denver, Co./Denver Christian HS) had the finest race of her collegiate career, finishing 16^th in a time of 21:24.

Senior Jenna Allman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline HS) was 23^rd (21:34) and junior Cath Kortman (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian HS) 34^th (21:52).

Rounding out Calvin's top seven were sophomore Naomi Dykstra (Grand Rapids, Mich./City HS) in 74^th (22:38) and freshman Alaina Smith (Sterling, Il./Seoul Foreign School) 108^th (23:20).
By finishing in the top 35, Tebben, Erickson, Bull, Allman and Kortman all received all-region honors.

The NCAA III Championships will take place next Saturday in Newville, Pennsylvania. Calvin will be making its 18^th straight trip to the NCAA III Championships including its 33^rd overall which ranks second all-time.

COACHES COMMENT: "The likelihood of a team tie to happen AGAIN for this team was extremely low, but goes to show how every individual thought, step and place matters in this true team sport," said Calvin head cross country coach Nicole Kramer. "Every position was fought for and earned today, and having a tie come out in our favor is a credit to how hard these ladies have worked on race day preparation and execution. I am so happy for Natalie on a huge breakthrough race, and for all our women showing that anything can happen when they possess a championship mindset. No matter how the results panned out today, I knew we were ready for a solid performance and we're excited to keep this momentum rolling at Nationals next week."